On Narnia and Un-Tame Lions

Well, it was no Lord of the Rings. But it was still a great experience.

As some of you know, I took a trip in over Christmas to see the first and hopefully not last installment of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Now, I grew up reading these books almost obsessively, so the story was rather near and dear to my heart. As with the Lord of the Rings, this is both good and bad. Good in that there is a rich history built up in my mind, with characters I've known since I was a child being portrayed (very well, IMHO) before my eyes - and bad, because even the slightest deviation from the story as it was written can cause confusion and feelings of betrayal ("What the hell are elves doing at Helm's Deep?!").

That being said, here's my take on the whole experience. If you've got something to add, by all means, share it.

Let's start with the bad - it was too short. Most people won't say that about a movie that weighed in at 2 hours and some change, but it really was. It felt very rushed, and I think a few minutes more of expository dialogue and a few minutes more of interaction between Aslan and the kids would have made it feel alot more true to the book. I understand that on some level they were trying to make a kids movie and you can't expect kids to sit still for 3 hours, but even another 15-20 minutes would have been good.

The editing was a little dodgy at times. Nothing too noticeable, just enough that certain changes of camera angles left you feeling somewhat disoriented. And there were moments where the CG images and the real ones were painfully distinguishable. A little sloppier than I expected.

The marketing of the film really bothered me. It seemed like Focus on the Family and every other Christian organization was jumping on this film like it was the next "Passion of the Christ." I wandered through a Christian bookstore when I was doing my Christmas shopping and found what I thought was the Narnia movie soundtrack. Fortunately before I could purchase it, my wife pointed out that it was not the soundtrack but a "Songs Inspired by" CD containing all manner of garden variety Christian "hits." Also close by were Narnia colouring books, Narnia coffee mugs, Narnia-based devotionals, and there was probably 4 or 5 different kinds of Narnia study Bibles there too.

It just felt a bit to me like it was selling out. And seeing Plugged In fawn (heh heh) all over this movie as they always do when a "Christian" movie comes out, regardless of how good or bad it is, was irritating. Just once I want to see some balanced review coming out of the Christian community. When movies like "Kinsey" and "Rent" get failing grades on the basis of their politics and not on how good of a movie they are while "The Passion of the Christ" gets a free ride... that's not reviewing, that's second-rate hackery.

Ok. I'm done ranting. Now on to the good.

The first time I saw that Wardrobe in the movie, I got chills. I'm sorry, I just did.

The children they picked for the roles were perfect, especially Edmund. You just wanted to slap the little punk silly. There was good acting all around, and Liam Neeson was the perfect pick for Aslan's voice. Tilda Swinton, who played the White Witch, was particularly good. She's setting a new standard for creepy, almost asexual characters (a la Constantine). The special effects (despite what I noted earlier) were great - my wife pointed out that you could make a whole movie of nothing but Aslan's fur rustling in the wind and have people in tears - and you could really see WETA Workshop's handiwork in the creatures, weapons and armor. I also thought the music was very well done. I'll be picking up the soundtrack (the real one) as soon as possible. I hope that this is the first of many Narnia movies - and I hope the quality can rise as the series goes on.

Moving on to my personal feelings...

The thing I liked best about the movie was Aslan. When Peter and the army bows down before Aslan, I just felt like I ought to be bowing too. Knowing what Aslan represents, it was just very personal for me. Allegorical stories like that have always been very meaningful to me. More than any other representation of Christ, Aslan has been very real to me my whole life. It wound up being a very emotional experience for me. That, of course, has very little to do with how good a movie it was - I think that this movie would have been nearly impossible to screw up. I do think that if you haven't read the book before you see the movie, you're really missing out. In fact, it almost felt at times like they were counting on you having read the books first to give you the background they didn't provide - but I suppose that's just the limitations of film. All in all I thought the experience was worthwhile.

Anyone else seen it? What did you think?